Free Madly & the Jackal by M. Leighton Page A

Jackson’s appearance concealed, I reached out for any whale in the vicinity, thinking absently that I believed I could feel one.  Without taking away from Jackson, I let my own visibility shine through just enough that I could confuse the whale and draw it closer then I put my appearance back under wraps.  It was all I could do, the best I could hope for. 
    When the alarms sounded, I wasn’t sure if I had triggered them or if the whale had stumbled into them.  I felt the disorienting, debilitating effects of them instantly.  I managed to keep enough of my wits about me to pray that Jackson was safe and that he would get away.  I wasn’t sure whether it was a good sign or not when the alarms were silenced less than a minute later.  I recovered quickly, but it was with great unease that I resumed my swim.  How could I get out when the portal lie in the other direction?  What if I got trapped?  What if…
    My thoughts swam faster than I did as I focused on my trust of Jackson.  It wasn’t until I began passing the familiar landscape of the waters outside Slumber that I slowed.  How had I escaped the shield?  Was there another portal? 
    I had so many questions, but at that moment, none of them mattered.  My worries were tightly focused on one thing, one person, as I scanned the shadows of the deep—looking, listening, feeling.  Jackson was nowhere.  I couldn’t sense him at all. 
    Swallowing the lump in my throat, I started to swim back toward Atlas when the memory of Jackson’s voice stopped me.  It rang clearly in my head, as if I were hearing him say the words again, right at my side. 
    Don’t look back…I’ll find you.
    With an unbearable emptiness burning in my chest, I turned from Atlas and made my way toward shore.  Without Jackson.
     

 
    CHAPTER SIX
     
    The water was shallow enough for me to stand on the sandy ocean floor, but I didn’t.  I swam slowly toward shore, unwilling to exchange my scales for skin.  I still wasn’t entirely convinced I could get out of the water knowing Jackson was still out there, possibly in danger.
    How could you leave him like that?  How could you swim away from the most important person in the world?
    I asked myself those questions over and over again.  No concrete answer came to mind.  I wondered if it was the promise I’d made to my father, the promise of every royal to Atlas—to put it first and foremost, always, above all else.  I wondered if it was my absolute trust in Jackson, in his ability to keep his promises, no matter what the odds looked like.  I wondered if I was suffering some sort of breakdown that was altering my thinking and my reaction to stimuli.  I did a lot of wondering, but my heart continued to hurt as if impaled on an invisible spear of fear and doubt.
    I swam in wide circles in the shallows until my lower body ached and the sun had set on yet another day.  The more minutes that passed with no sign of Jackson, the more panic clawed at my insides.  What was I to do?  How could I go about finding him, rescuing him without endangering the rest of my family?  Or getting myself caught in the process, rendering everyone without help?
    Knowing I was fast approaching exhaustion, I willed my scales away and set my feet in the sand, walking slowly toward shore.  I inhaled the familiar sweetly-scented air of Slumber and let it soothe me as much as anything could, which wasn’t very much.  With the last of my waning power, I conjured shorts and a t-shirt so that I could cover my nakedness until I did what I had to do then made my way back to the water.
    I had decided that the best course of immediate action was to relay what I knew to Transport, to Commander Jessup.  At least that way, someone other than me had enough information to try and formulate a plan of attack so to speak.  Once I shared all I’d learned, I would be free to focus on my own plans, on getting back to Jackson.  Somehow.  If I found my death in trying,